Now straddling the divide between death and thrash metal more evenly than ever, songs like "Vanish Away", "Aftermath" and the album's coup de grace "That's Why I Despise You" are fast, furious and delivered with a gung ho pugnacity. Every member is on top form, from Hendrik Bache and Florian Mueller's meticulously juxtaposed guitars through to Leif Jensen's career-best vocal performance. Perhaps most crucially, Dew-Scented has jettisoned most of the overt references to Slayer that dogged their previous releases.

Amidst all this swirling aggression, some may not even notice the album becoming a tad too self-deferential as it passes the half hour mark. But that's just as well, because by the time proceedings draw to the close on the hardcore-ish "Retain the Scars", they're back to firing on all cylinders. In the grand scheme of things, _Incinerate_ could never be seen as a record that changed the face of heavy metal forever, but it does succeed in achieving what it sets out to do with flying colours.